Woman’s £2.5k payout from Luton dentists

Stewart Carr

A woman has received a £2,500 payout from two Luton dentists after allegations of poor treatment.

Jodie Barrett, a 28-year-old customer service advisor from Stopsley, was paid £2,500 in an out-of-court settlement by two dentists who were based at The Village Dental Practice.

The infected tooth

The case was taken on by dental negligence solicitors, the Dental Law Partnership, who claimed that Dr Bindiya Thakrar and Dr Nilesh Limani failed to restore a broken tooth and treat infection at another tooth.

Miss Barrett says she experienced excruciating pain over a two-year period and will now lose a tooth.

According to Miss Barrett, her dental problems began in 2013 when a filling fell out and so she made an appointment with Dr Bindiya Thakrar.

She said: “I went to see Dr Thakrar as soon as the filling fell out, it had essentially broken my tooth.

“He replaced the filling and initially it felt absolutely fine. I trusted him, and had no reason not to.”

However, Miss Barrett was soon experiencing severe pain in the same tooth, and returned to see Dr Thakrar. She was shocked to be told the tooth was now un-restorable and either needed to be extracted or left untreated.

“It didn’t make any sense,” Miss Barrett said.

“I’d only just had the filling fitted, and Dr Thakrar had never given any indication there were more serious problems with the tooth at my previous appointment.

“I was also shocked at the lack of options he gave.

“I either had to have the tooth extracted or leave it untreated and stay in excruciating pain. Naturally I wanted to keep my tooth so opted not to have it extracted.”

But for the next two weeks Miss Barrett continued to suffer from severe toothache in the area surrounding the tooth. Desperate, she returned to see Dr Thakrar who took X-rays and advised that the tooth next to it was infected and either required root canal treatment or extraction.

Still in severe pain, Miss Barrett returned to the Village Dental Practice for the recommended treatment. This time she saw Dr Nilesh Limani who it is claimed took no action to alleviate Miss Barrett’s pain.

Fed-up with the situation Miss Barret contacted the Dental Law Partnership. Analysis of her dental records revealed that the tooth she was originally experiencing problems with had actually been restorable all along, and Dr Thakar should have treated it by fitting a post-retained crown.

X-rays also revealed that Miss Barrett’s other tooth was infected and required extraction but Dr Thakrar failed to notice this.

Dr Limani had also failed to provide adequate restorative treatment.

“It’s shocking,” Miss Barratt said. “I went through so much pain because the infection was left untreated.

“My tooth now really is un-restorable, it’s too late for a crown now, and it will need to be extracted in the near future.

“It’s so frustrating to know my tooth could have been saved if the dentists had just provided the right treatment.”

Georgina France of the Dental Law Partnership added: “What our client went through is completely unnecessary.

“If the dentists had provided the correct treatment in the first place the problems she experienced could have been avoided.

“We hope the compensation she receives goes some way towards paying for the additional treatment required.”

The Dental Law Partnership took on Miss Barrett’s case in July 2015 and it was settled in January 2017 when the dentists paid £2,500 in an out of court settlement, although they did not admit liability.

A spokesman from Village Dental Practice said: “We are limited in what we can say because of patient confidentiality.

“Village Dental Practice always strives to provide the best possible service to all patients. We are pleased the matter has been bought to a satisfactory conclusion and that all parties can now move on.”